This new thing that sprang up between them, it was...astral. It reshaped the air, and it was in her, too--a warming and softening, a pull--and for that moment, her hands in his, Karou felt as powerless as starlight tugged toward the sun in the huge strange warp of space. She fought against it, trying to get away.

Her way with words just slays me.

45%

Everything was between them, everything he'd felt suffuse the air while they faced each other...Being near her was like balancing on a tipping world, trying to keep your footing as the ground wanted to roll you forward, hurl you into a spiral from which there was no recovery, only impact, and it was a longed-for impact, a sweet and beckoning collision.

He'd felt this before and never wanted to feel it again.

50%

"What?" she asked. "What exactly don't I know?"

"His magic, for one thing," said Akiva. "Your wishes. Do you know what they come from?"